


Come Down Now

by somethingsalwayswrong



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Punk, M/M, Pre-Slash, S'wawesome Santa, also includes links to art that someone drew i'm dyin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 16:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8759623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingsalwayswrong/pseuds/somethingsalwayswrong
Summary: checkpleasetae said "tbh all i want is punk! nursey and soft! dex being total dorks wearing flower crowns :)" so that's exactly what you got, friendo!Dex is touring Samwell and keeps running into some weirdly chill punk dude. People don't dress like that in Maine.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DIPHYLLEIATAE](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DIPHYLLEIATAE/gifts).



> I hope you like your fic, friend!

Will loved his family. He truly did. They were a large group, all of them loud, but he loved them. But right now, he was really wishing he had come on these college tours by himself. Samwell was the third campus they were touring and was still trying to play catch-up with his hurricane of a mother. 

 

Kitty Poindexter was nearly six feet tall, solidly built, and the most no-nonsense nurse at the VA. When people met Will, they assumed his dad must have given him his height and build. But then they’d meet Kitty and Richard and see that Richard was a short stocky fellow. They’d see Kitty, towering over them. And they’d understand where the Poindexter children got their height from. 

 

She walked across Samwell University’s campus with a murderous force, boots clacking on the concrete, as she spoke rapid-fire at the two children in tow. 

 

“Billy,” she said to the very red-faced boy trailing behind her dragging a huge rolling suitcase behind him. “I don't care how nice the hockey rink is. You're here for school, so we're staying for the full tour. I want you to study here and better yourself, not run around with those hockey hoodlums again.”

 

“Ma,” he pleaded, several steps behind. “I already did research on their CS program here. It's fine.” He started lagging behind her again. “Jeez Ma, can you wait up? Beck can barely keep up.”

 

Sure enough, several steps behind him was a small girl, sprinting to keep up. She was wearing a Samwell University hoodie two sizes too big but otherwise the spitting image of a tiny Dex. “Ma, slow down!” she shouted. 

 

Will stopped running and crouched down on one knee. “Hey Beck, climb on!” he shouted. The girl shrieked with excitement and scrambled onto his back at full speed, nearly toppling him. 

 

As soon as he had her situated, he started jogging to catch up to Kitty. 

 

Kitty walked slower, letting the two kids catch up. “Sorry, you know how I get. I don't want to miss that picnic they're throwing. It's supposed to be a real shindig.”

 

“Really, Ma? ‘Shindig’? Not gonna use any language from this century?”

 

She threw a finger up and pointed at him. “William Joseph, I changed your diapers, don’t you sass me.”

 

It was at this point, with Will being middlle-named by his mother and carrying his little sister, that he noticed that he was being watched. 

 

The guy was just sitting under a tree, apparently enjoying the warm day. And  
blatantly staring at Will and his family.

 

Will stared back for a second, blinking. What did this guy want? He must think Will’s family was weird as hell. He gripped tighter to Beck's legs and forced himself to keep walking. He remembered this guy. They’d met earlier that day.

 

_/\\_

 

Samwell was a gorgeous campus. Their programs were good. And Faber, the ice rink? It was a gorgeous stadium. Will thought the amount of red was a little obnoxious but that wasn’t a deal-breaker or anything. Faber seemed like it was really well-maintained. There was only one issue Will was seeing so far: the team.

 

The Samwell Men’s Hockey Team was...unusual, to say the least. Between the dude who apparently loved to bake, their captain who barely said a non-hockey related word, and the guy giving the tour who claimed his name was Shitty, of all things, Will really didn’t know what to make of them. Not to mention the other people on the tour with him. 

 

There was one kid from California named Chow who was just so excited to be there. Actually, he just seemed excited in general. Will didn’t know anyone from California but he thought they were all supposed to be mellowed-out hippies. Apparently he got that wrong somewhere along the way. 

 

Most of the other guys on the tour were pretty normal. Most of them. The other one who stood out was...Will didn’t actually catch his name. But he was pretty distinctive. Will had taken to just calling him Punk Dude in his head. 

 

Punk Dude was almost as tall as Will (an impressive feat) but had dark tawny skin and a soft lavender mohawk. His clothes were dark and ripped, covered in a jacket covered in patches. His hands were covered in weird stacker rings. 

 

People didn’t dress like that in Maine. Or at least, not where Will was from. 

 

Apparently Punk Dude and Shitty knew each other because when they ran into each other at Faber, they hugged. Then Shitty threw an arm over Punk Dude’s shoulder and led him slightly away from the group to catch up. Now Will could see the back of his jacket. There was a rainbow flag patch on the back of one arm.

 

Will’s face heated up and his eyes darted around. What if someone saw that? They might take it to mean… 

 

Where Will was from, if you were that way you didn’t go around flaunting it like that. Not that Will had a problem with people who were like that. He just...didn’t know how to handle it.

 

Next to him, that Chow kid loudly exclaimed that he’d applied for Samwell and dragged Will into a side-armed hug.

 

_/\\_

 

Samwell’s College Tour Picnic was an annual tradition. Once the first day of campus tours was over, the parents and students gathered on the lawns of the campus lake to eat cheaply-prepared food from the cafeteria in the afternoon sun. 

 

“It’s mostly for the parents,” Shitty told the tadpoles during the hockey haus tour. “But the potato salad is actually pretty rad.”

 

Will did have to agree on that last part. He and his mom were laying on a blanket in the sun, idly snacking. Beck was running around, snatching up clovers to make daisy chains. So far, she had a flower crown, three bracelets, and a necklace so long it almost reached her knees. It didn’t seem like she had any plans of stopping, either. 

 

At the head of the lawn, some college rep was explaining some of the benefits of Samwell versus other universities. Nobody really seemed to be paying attention, though. The sun was warm and there was soft music playing from speakers set up in the grass. 

 

Will rolled from his back to his side and saw that guy again. Punk Dude. He was laying on his stomach, a blanket spread out underneath him. His eyes were closed, his arms were spread out on either side of him. Basking. That was the right word. He wasn't just enjoying the sun. He was basking. Will couldn't stop watching the way the light played off the purple in his hair. He seemed peaceful here, so different from the way he was earlier. 

 

It was, of course, at this moment that Punk Dude opened his eyes and made eye contact with Will. Will flicked his eyes away but it was definitely too late. There was a moment of contact made, where Punk Dude saw Will staring at him. Briefly, Will worried he’d get mad or call him a freak or something. But instead, he lifted a hand in greeting and then made a “come here” motion. 

 

Will looked around. Punk Dude couldn’t mean him. There had to be another person nearby that he was friends with or something. But then Punk Dude laughed and pointed at Will and did it again. “Come here!” he mouthed, smiling. He had a nose stud Will hadn’t noticed before. It was catching the sunlight. Will looked at his mom, reading a book and sipping a Coke. He looked over at Beck, working on her fourth flower crown. He looked at Punk Dude, grinning lazily in the sunlight.

 

“Hey Ma? I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go talk to one of the hockey guys.”

 

Kitty barely lifted her head. “Be good, Billy.”

 

He ducked his head and scrambled up off the blanket, weaving through the legs and lawn chairs and blankets and children running around on the grass. And then suddenly he was at the edge of Punk Dude’s blanket. His palms were sweating. He wiped them on his jeans. 

 

“So uh…” Will said. 

 

“Sup dude,” Punk Dude answered, flashing a peace sign. Will looked down at him, lounged out on his stomach. He was suddenly reminded of the cat that lived next door to him. Unconcerned, boneless, nearly hedonistic levels of chill.

 

“You gonna say anything besides ‘so uh…’ or is that the extent of our conversation?” Punk Dude asked, smiling. 

 

Will coughed. “Sorry, sorry. What did you want?” Punk Dude’s eyebrows scrunched up and Will stammered out, “I mean, why’d you call me over? Like...I don’t know you dude.”

 

Punk Dude laughed. “You were staring at me, man. I want to know why.”

 

“I mean....you were staring at me earlier. In the quad.”

 

“Cause you were cute, with your little sis hanging off you like a jungle gym. Sit down, man. I don’t bite.” Punk Dude smiled up at Will and batted his lashes. 

 

“What? Oh. Yeah, sure.” Will sat down far too fast and with zero grace, basically throwing his full body weight onto his tailbone. He winced.

 

“Oh jeez, you okay?” Punk Dude asked while laughing.

 

Will grimaced but nodded. “What’s your name, anyway? I didn’t catch it at the hockey tour.”

 

Holding out a hand, Punk Dude said, “Derek but everyone calls me Nursey, even outside of hockey. What ‘bout you, Ginger?”

 

“Will, or Dex. I don’t really use the hockey one outside of hockey though.”

 

“Well, nice to meet ya ‘Will or Dex’.” Nursey stuck out his tongue. It was pierced, a metal bar with a blue steel ball at the end.

 

“Oh jeez, doesn’t that hurt?” Will asked before he could stop himself.

 

“What, the tongue ring? Nah. I gotta take it out for games, is all. Don’t want a steel ball in your mouth when you’re getting checked.” Both of them grimaced.

 

For a moment, it was quiet. Will wasn’t sure what else to say but he wasn’t ready to go back with his mom and sister. The soft music they were pumping through the speakers wafted over. Will started singing along under his breath.

 

“They will see us waving from such great heights, come down now…”

 

Nursey smiled at him. “A hockey bro who likes The Postal Service? Nice.”

 

Will snorted. “A punk-ass dude who likes The Postal Service? Unexpected.”

 

“Hey hey. More of me is punk than just my ass. I’m the full package, baby.”

 

Will flushed warm. ‘Baby.’ The way Nursey’s tongue ring caught the light as he said it. The way it resonated. It felt right and good. Will wondered if Nursey was like this with everyone.

 

“But I’m being serious, Dexy. You got hidden depths or something? Don’t tell me. You play acoustic guitar and wrote songs for your high school sweetheart.”

 

Will rubbed the back of his neck. “Actually, it’s piano. And most of my compositions were more like...film score than anything else.”

 

“You dork!” Nursey laughed and swatted his arm. “You’re a nerd, aren’t you? A big softy, hockey-playing nerd! I’m diggin’ it!”

 

It was at this point, as Will’s face was definitely blushing hard, that Beck ran up covered in flowers.

 

“There you are, Billy! I made you this!”

 

Nursey mouthed “Billy?” at him, shit-eating grin from ear to ear right as Beck shoved a flower crown on Will’s head. It wasn’t the best-made flower crown, really mostly clovers knotted together at the ends, but it stayed on his head okay. 

 

“Thanks, Beck. I love it,” he said, laughing. “What do you think, Nursey? Think Beck’s got a career in flower crowns?”

 

He looked over to Nursey grinning but Nursey’s face was doing something odd. His eyes were wide and he was grinning. Wordlessly, he pulled his phone out and snapped a picture of Will.

 

Beck turned to him and stuck out her hand. “My name’s Rebecca but everyone calls me Beck,” she said, clearly waiting for Nursey to shake her hand.

 

He laughed, shaken out of whatever stupor he was in. “My name’s Derek but everyone calls me Nursey. Nice to meet you Beck.” He shook her hand very seriously, like a business contract was under way instead of meeting a very loud 6 year-old. “I love your handiwork there,” he said, pointing to the flower crown on Will’s head.

 

“Oh! Do you want one?” She jumped up and down and then ripped one of the extra flower crowns off her head and jammed it onto Nursey’s mohawk. Frowning, she readjusted it.

 

“There,” she said, arms on her hips as she admired her handiwork. “Now you look good. Why’s your hair funny like that, though? Where’s the rest of it?”

 

Will scooped her into his lap. “Beck! That’s rude. Apologize to Nursey.” He looked up apologetically.

 

Nursey laughed. “Nah, it’s fine. Kids always wanna know where the rest of it went or why I’ve got metal bits in me.” He turned to Beck. “It’s how I express myself. I think it looks really cool and it’s something different than most people have. So I shave off the sides of my hair. And I dye it because purple is my favorite color.”

 

Beck whipped her head over to look at Will. “I wanna dye my hair! Can I dye my hair green, Billy?!” 

 

Will rolled his eyes. “I think Ma would have a stroke. Go bug her a while, huh?” he said.

 

Beck scrambled out of his arms. “It was very nice to meet you, Nursey,” she said, offering her hand for shaking again. Nursey laughed and accepted it. 

 

“It was very nice to meet you too, Beck.”

 

And with that Beck scrambled through the maze of blankets back to her mom, leaving the boys alone.

 

“That’s a good look on you,” Will said, smiling. And he meant it. Nursey managed to lay there in the sun, black ripped clothing, pierced tongue, handful of rings, purple ‘hawk, and flower crown and look like none of it was out of place. 

 

“You look pretty good yourself Billy.” Nursey stuck his tongue out again.

 

Will laughed and laid back, facing the opposite direction on the blanket from Nursey. And for a moment, they were both quiet. 

 

Will laid there in the sun and thought about the last few days. The Samwell tour wasn’t over yet but Will was pretty sure he’d made up his mind. A good CS program, a good hockey program, a gorgeous campus, and...so far, he’d met some pretty cool people. Yeah, Samwell was sounding pretty good.

 

“Do you think you’re gonna pick Samwell?” Will asked after a moment.

 

Nursey rolled a bit, facing Will’s knees. “You know, man? I think I just might.”

**Author's Note:**

> Now with fan art from a lovely stranger named Jenna (who does not have an ao3 or a tumblr to credit)!
> 
> http://fandom-mama.tumblr.com/post/154195465390/im-doin-another-one-too-this-fic-was-so-soft-i
> 
> http://fandom-mama.tumblr.com/post/154196664280/i-couldnt-stop-im-dead-and-dying-i-love-the


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